Justification

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery”

(OMB Control Number: 2030-0051; EPA ICR Number: 2434.250

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: NAMs Training Surveys

PURPOSE: The purpose of this ICR is to collect registration information for training attendees and collect attendee feedback regarding their experience with trainings on web tools, web applications, and databases offered as part of the New Approach Methods (NAMs) Training Pilot. The NAMs Training Pilot highlights a range of EPA tools and resources that are relevant to those who are interested in NAMs. The information gathered from this collection largely focuses on users’ satisfaction with the content, functionality, and usefulness of the NAMs training. The survey also seeks to understand whether the trainings sufficiently introduce and familiarize attendees to NAMs related tools, functionality, and resources. Under this ICR, EPA will collect information necessary to 1) gauge attendees’ knowledge and familiarity with the selected NAMs web tool prior to training, 2) gauge respondents’ satisfaction with the training, and 3) evaluate attendees’ feedback, comments, experiences, and recommendations to modify, tailor, and/or improve future training events.

This information collection will be conducted using low-burden web surveys.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Respondents will consist of individuals who signed up for and attended NAMs virtual or in-person training and/or participated in related training breakout sessions. Surveys will be sent as part of the post-training and follow-up materials. All responses are voluntary. Potential respondents include but are not limited to: individuals from U.S. Federal Governmental agencies; international organizations; U.S. State, Local, Tribal governments; non-governmental agencies; university or research institutions; non-profit organizations; private industry; corporate industry; and/or concerned citizens. In general, we estimate the breakdown of respondent groups to be the following: US Federal Government 20%, Non-governmental sector 40%, Industry sector 40%. The burden calculations for this collection are based on using a subset of the submitted survey questions. Responses from Federal Government Employees do not contribute to the overall burden calculations.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [X] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software) [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [X ] Yes [ ] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [X ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden hours
Registration / Pre-Training survey	3,333	2 minutes	111.1
Post-Training Survey	1,666	5 minutes	138.83
Totals	4,999		249.93

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is: $8,670

10 hours/month (EPA Fed) x $48/hourly rate = $5,760 annual

10 hours/month (SSC) x $25/hourly rate = $3,000 annual

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ ] Yes [X] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

The NAMs Training Pilot will host regular training sessions, up to 6 per year, on varied and related NAMs topics and tools. Training sessions will be focused on new or popular web tools, web applications, or NAMs-related resources, such as EPA’s ECOTOX Knowledgebase, CompTox Chemicals Dashboard, and Generalized Read Across (GenRA) Tool, among others. NAMs training offerings will be driven by partner and stakeholder input or scheduled around timely releases to highlight NAMs resources. Anyone can register for the NAMs training sessions as they are advertised publicly. The NAMs Training Pilot directly advertises the trainings to a list of ~6,000 people who are signed up to receive regular update bulletins on available NAMs trainings via GovDelivery, webpages, and social media. An invitation to participate in the trainings will be sent to that group and requested that they share with their networks. The trainings will also be advertised within EPA and on the NAMs Training website. The attendees for the trainings will register voluntarily. The survey link will be shared with all training participants in the chat prior to the close of the training and will be sent to all training participants who registered and for whom there is an available email address.

Attendees of conference sessions or other trainings will be asked if they want to voluntarily receive the satisfaction survey. Survey responses will be completely voluntary.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [X] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name:

Primary: Carolyn Holmes, EPA ORD, [email protected]

Alternate: Jessica Daniel, EPA ORD, [email protected]

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